I couldn’t help it. I smiled broadly.
Then Chip was at my side, holding out the near empty bag to me. I put my hand in and pulled out the last remaining rock - bright blue. I showed it to everyone with a faint smile on my face and strode over to Jendan’s side. He gave my shoulders a squeeze as I moved next to him, and looked delighted.
I was conflicted. So conflicted. Part of me was so thrilled to be Jendan’s partner.
Part of me was horrified. Because if we went to Judgment and lost…what was I going to do?
The answer was obvious, of course. Just don’t lose. But that was easier said than done.
Chapter Fourteen
“I can’t tell you how happy I was that Annabelle was my partner. Not only do I get to rescue her from that jackass, but I get to be around her twenty-four seven. Which means constantly fighting my attraction to her. She’ll have to be the big spoon in the shelter at night, because I don’t think I’ll be able to not react to her presence. Which makes me so screwed, since we’re doing the friendship thing. The only thing keeping my libido in check is how NOT thrilled Annabelle looked to be my partner. What’s up with that?” — Jendan Abercrombie, Day 14, Endurance Island: Power Players
The boat dropped Jendan and I off at a new section of beach I didn’t recognize. It was an entirely different island, and I mourned the loss of the waterfall. At least I’d gotten the secret word - kere kere - before we’d left. We hopped off the speedboat into the knee-deep water, me carrying Jendan’s blanket, and him carrying the basket. A cameraman hopped off with us and kept a few feet away, always filming. I ignored him.
“Well,” Jendan said as we walked onto the beach. “Looks like we’re starting from scratch.”
“Kinda looks like it,” I told him, raising a hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the sun as I gazed down the beach. “Do you suppose this was someone else’s camp? Maybe they had a shelter somewhere.”
“We can check it out,” he said, then pointed in the opposite direction of where I was looking. “I think I see a flag in that direction.”
I turned and sure enough, there was a patch of blue in the distance. “That’ll be where our machete is. Let’s go.”
After a quick walk, we found the flag, the remains of a nearby shelter that hadn’t survived last night’s storm, and the crate for the machete and cooking pot. To my surprise, it was intact. “We can take the crate apart and use the wood as part of the base of a new shelter,” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Jendan said, setting down the basket and opening the crate.
I started forward, remembering the clue to Pandora’s Box from before, but when we opened the container, there was nothing but the pot and the machete. No canteens, no maps, no notes. “I guess they didn’t leave their map.” Or their clue.
“Huh.” He dug through the box for a moment, then shook his head. “Not here. Should we head off and find water before we do anything?”
“Let’s check what we have in the basket,” I suggested. I was starving, and the thought of food sitting right there, just waiting for us to eat, was enough to make my shrunken stomach do flips. “Maybe we’ll have enough to last the day.”
“Here’s hoping we got something better than coconut and water,” Jendan told me as he undid the latch on the lid. We pried it off…and gasped.
Inside was a jug of fresh drinking water, a small round loaf of bread, some cheese, and a couple of grilled chicken breasts. A few pieces of bright, juicy fruit rounded out the meal.
“Oh my God,” I moaned, dropping to my knees next to the basket. “If this wasn’t the big prize one, I can’t imagine what was in it. This is amazing.”
“I could cry,” Jendan said with a laugh. He picked up the water jug. “And look. We can keep this and use it over and over again.”
“Perfect,” I exclaimed, thrilled. I couldn’t have asked for better. “Let’s put the blanket down and have ourselves a picnic, shall we?”
“No,” Jendan said, and his hand grabbed mine, stopping me. I looked up at him in surprise and he gave me a sheepish look. “If that blanket touches the sand, we’ll never get the sand out.”
“Oh.” I quickly wadded it back up again and clutched it in my arms. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Jendan said. “It’s your blanket now, too. We’re sharing everything.”
Hearing those words reminded me of the shit we were in. Jendan and I were team-mates. What should have been amazing was now just bothering me with its potential for failure. Ever since I’d started the game, I’d planned on voting out my partner.
Now, Jendan was my partner. And to make matters worse, I was uncontrollably, irresistibly attracted to him. I peeked up at Jendan…and realized he was gazing back down at me in a not-entirely-platonic sort of way.
“So,” Jendan said. “Should we talk about this?”
I juggled the blanket in my arms, pretending that I was trying to keep it from skimming the ground. “It does make things a little weird, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t say I’m disappointed to have you as a partner. Not in the slightest. You’re the person I like best out here. You work hard, both in and out of challenges.” His smile curved. “At least when your foot isn’t hurting you.”
Boy, that was going to come back to haunt me, wasn’t it? I gave him a faint smile. “I’m just worried about going to Judgment. What if we go and one of us has to go home? That will be…” I swallowed. “Really bad.”
Really, really bad, because I knew it wouldn’t be me going home. And I didn’t want to do that to Jendan. I was stuck.
“We just won’t think about that,” Jendan told me. “We’ll just go into every challenge and kick ass.”
“Oh sure,” I said, unable to keep the teasing out of my voice. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
He just gave me that sexy smile that made me regret my no-romance vow.
Hard.
Blushing, I looked over at the pathetic shelter. “After we eat, we should probably work on that, right? So we have someplace warm to sleep tonight?”
“Yup.” He looked over at the shelter, then back at me again. “Are you feeling weird about the whole you-and-me thing? Being attracted to each other?”
“A little,” I confessed. “It wasn’t so bad before because it wasn’t like we were around each other constantly. But now…”
“Now it’s a little more difficult. Yeah.” Jendan thought for a moment, then pulled me against him in a one-armed hug. “We’ll just have to touch a lot so neither of us freaks when the occasional contact happens.”
That…was either the best idea in the world, or the worst. “We’re still sticking with the plan, right? Just friends until the show’s over?”
“Just friends,” Jendan agreed, and squeezed my arm again in a thoroughly platonic way that made me wish that I wasn’t so intent on sticking to my guns.
~~ *** ~~
Once we’d eaten our fill, we put the rest in our cooking pot with the lid on tightly so it would stay decent for dinner. Then, we set about to making our shelter all over again.
It was so nice to have Jendan as a partner. He worked hard, and when I made suggestions, he didn’t sneer or look at me like I was crazy. We worked together well, and by the time sunset rolled around, we had a platform a foot off of the sand and covered with a thick, slanting lean-to of palm fronds. For the floor of the shelter, we’d used the box lids and covered them with even more palm fronds, and the result was the most comfortable bed I’d had in two weeks. We crawled under the blanket, finished the last of our chicken and fruit, and then laid back and stared up at the brilliant stars overhead.
It was like an entirely new game.
Well, almost. I still had Pandora’s Box hanging over my head. And I had my attraction to Jendan that I was desperately fighting.
Even now, we laid under the blanket, our bodies so close that our thighs were touching. My hand accidentally brushed his, and then the next thing I knew, ou
r fingers were intertwined, and we were holding hands and staring up at the sky while under a blanket, naked.
Man, I hated being platonic.
“I’m glad you’re my partner,” he murmured, and I felt his thumb caress the back of my hand. “Now we don’t have to sneak around to talk to each other any longer.”
“I’m glad too,” I lied. I was still torn about Jendan being my partner. It was like having temptation smacked right in front of my face at all times. It had been better strategically to have Kip as a partner, because I would have zero qualms about ruining his game.
I’d feel massive guilt over ruining Jendan’s game, though.
His thumb continued to slide over the back of my hand, distracting me from my dire thoughts. It felt light and ticklish, but in a good way. My nipples reacted, hardening under the blanket and I felt my pulse begin to thrum. My body always reacted to Jendan’s nearness, but today it was impossible to ignore him. I glanced around for the cameraman, but he was nowhere to be seen. Was he on break? Out for the night?
It didn’t matter; we weren’t being watched. I could do what I wanted.
I pulled my hand from Jendan’s and rolled over on my side, facing him. His gray eyes met mine in the darkness, and we just stared at each other for a long, long moment. I knew he wasn’t reaching for me because he wouldn’t make the first move - not without getting an okay from me first.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to make that leap yet. If I did, there was no going back.
Tentatively, I put my hand on his chest. Oh god, he was so warm. So firm. My fingertips pushed against his pectoral. “So…this is nice.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
How could I not? Jendan had lost some weight since getting on the show - we all had - and instead of looking emaciated, he just looked taut with muscle. Maybe I was biased, but I thought the man looked delicious. “Can I…explore you for a bit?”
“Of course,” he murmured, his gaze intent on me. He hadn’t moved a muscle, but I could feel the tension vibrating through his body at my touch. “I have to warn you, though, I’m not hiding anything under this blanket.”
I giggled. “No one can hide anything on this show. We’re all so very exposed.”
“Kinda glad for the blanket right now or I’d be exposing just how much I like you.”
“Oh?” My cheeks heated. “It wouldn’t be anything I haven’t seen before.”
He laughed. “Thanks for the reminder that I have a hard time controlling myself.”
I grinned, but my hand stroked over his chest, and all of my concentration went there. I looked small next to all that muscle, and it fascinated me. His skin was so warm, and after days of freezing my butt off at night, I was addicted to that warmth. I slid my hand lower and felt him suck in as my fingertips brushed down the flat length of his stomach.
“Now you’re just not playing fair,” he whispered.
I wasn’t. I knew that. But I couldn’t stop touching him. My fingers dipped lower, brushing against his belly button. I watched his face to see his reaction.
His eyes closed and he gave a low groan. “Your hands feel so good.”
“You feel good against my hands,” I admitted.
Jendan’s hand went to my waist and he dragged me closer to him. “Then come and put your body against mine.”
I gasped as my skin pressed against his. Instead of a small, controlled experiment, it seemed all of his body was touching mine. My breasts pressed against his chest, my thighs tangled with his, and my hand was trapped between our bodies.
It wasn’t the only thing trapped between us. I could feel the hard length of his cock flat against my belly, like an iron rod.
And Jendan’s face was so close to mine that all I had to do was lean forward to press my mouth to his and kiss him. Dazed, I looked at his mouth and then into his eyes. They were heavy-lidded with arousal.
His hand clenched at my hip again, dragging me against him. “You feel incredible, Annabelle. Your skin is like silk.”
I bit my lip at his words, said with such intense pleasure that he made my body shiver with need. I shifted and my nipples rubbed against his chest, making me gasp. My hand went to the back of his neck and I clung to him, my breath fanning against his cheek.
He closed his eyes and leaned in, his nose brushing against my own even as his hand cupped my buttock. I felt enveloped in his embrace, his warmth seeping into my own. He felt so good. His nose brushed against my mouth, and I parted my lips, expecting a kiss.
But he didn’t kiss me. Instead, he leaned back and gazed at me. “If we kiss, you realize there’s no going back? That instead of just friends, we’d be friends with benefits?”
I stared up at him, my lust-fogged senses having a hard time following the conversation…then it registered. He was giving me a chance to back out.
And he was right. If we kissed, kissing would lead to more snuggling. To furtive make-outs and raiding the First Aid kit for condoms. To people filming when we thought we were stealing kisses, and patching it together to make it seem like I was Annabelle the Island Ho all over again.
My vow to play a tough game so different from my last one would be nothing but meaningless words.
I sighed. “Jendan—“
“It’s okay,” he said softly, and kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll just huddle together for warmth, how’s that?”
“If we weren’t in the game—“
“I know.” He patted my shoulder. “I understand. I really do. Don’t worry about it.” He inched away and then pushed a fold of the blanket between us, forming a barrier between our bodies. “There. All better.”
My fingers played with the hair at his nape. “Can I take a rain check? Once we’re both out of the game, maybe we try again?”
“Of course,” he said. “Get some sleep.”
Easier said than done.
Chapter Fifteen
“Sometimes, I really hate being in this damn game.” — Jendan Abercrombie, Day 16, Endurance Island: Power Players
We totally dominated the next Judgment challenge.
It was clear to me that Jendan and I were the strongest team left. Not bragging, just calling it as I saw it. We’d managed to win fishing tackle a few days ago in a reward challenge and had caught a few tiny fish to give our bodies protein. With that and the fact that we were both young and strong, we blew past the others. The Judgment challenge had been another obstacle course followed by a slide puzzle at the end, and we ended up in first place by a mile.
Sunnie and her partner Rusty came in second to last, and the very last to finish were Kip and Kissy, who weren’t working together well at all. Kissy tried hard, but she wasn’t athletic, and Kip apparently ragged on her for slowing him down. I knew how that was, and I felt bad for her when she cried all through Judgment.
Of course, it didn’t matter how bad I felt for her — I was still voting for Kip.
Jendan was on the same page as me. Not only did he hate Kip, but his old partner, Sunnie, was up against them. It was no surprise to anyone that our vote was to keep Sunnie and Rusty.
It was, however, surprising to me when I saw we were the only ones that voted to keep them. Maybe it was Kissy’s tears. Maybe as a team, Kissy and Kip seemed like more of a train wreck and less of a threat. Whatever it was, Sunnie and Rusty lost Judgment.
Their challenge was another fire-making challenge. I heard Jendan make an unhappy noise in his throat and I knew what that meant - Sunnie wouldn’t know how to make a fire. Sure enough, Rusty was able to make a fire before Sunnie even figured out how to use the flint and steel.
She was done.
Her eyes pooled up with tears and she gave Jendan a desperate look before she had to leave the Judgment area. As if he could save her. No one could save her at this point in the game.
Unless she had Pandora’s Box, and I knew she didn’t. I had it. With a sad little sniffle, Sunnie tossed her beautiful red hair and headed down the path, out of the game. Je
ndan’s former partner was gone.
When we got back to camp, the sun was setting. Jendan was quiet, so I respected his mood and went off to the well (which we’d found a few days ago) to get water to boil. I gathered a coconut or two and split them open, then offered him one to eat.
He ignored it and pulled me into his lap, instead, burying his head against my breasts, obviously needing comfort.
I hesitated for a moment, then wrapped my arms around him, stroking his shaggy hair. “You okay?” There was nothing sexual in the way he held me. It was clear that he just needed me. I ignored the cameraman circling and focused on Jendan. “You want to talk about it?”
“I’m okay,” he told me softly. “I just…ever since we got here, I’ve been protecting her and taking care of her, you know? She’s like a little sister to me. And I couldn’t help her today. I feel like I let her down.”
“It’s just a game,” I soothed, stroking his hair and trying not to pay attention to how his face was pressed against my breasts. I fought the urge to shove his face between them and see how he reacted. Bad Annabelle. Bad! “She’ll be fine once she sits down and has something to eat and a nice hot shower.”
“She knew she was out of her depth here. I tried to make up the slack for her, but she felt bad.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told him again. “You can’t play for her. You can only play for yourself.”
He nodded, his bristly chin moving against my breasts.
“And however sad you are about Sunnie, there’s no denying that we kicked ass today.”
Jendan squeezed me closer. “We do make a good team.”
“See?” I teased him. “Just remember that it’s a game. Everything that’s happening here has nothing to do with real life.”
He stilled. “Everything?”
Almost everything.
~~ *** ~~
It was getting harder and harder to resist my sexy partner as the days went by. It didn’t matter that neither one of us had showered in weeks, or that our breath probably smelled. We were drawn together like two magnets. If he passed by me on the beach, he’d reach out to touch me. If I came up behind him, I’d wrap my arms around him and press my breasts against his back.
Body Games (A Games Novel) Page 12
